Category: People

The Reading Phoenix Choir celebrates 50 golden years. I photographed the choir beside the Reading Abbey Gateway and within the Abbey ruins. As their name suggests it was important to connect them with Reading and what better place than the ruins and gatehouse.

Over the years, Reading Phoenix Choir has raised over £300,000 in support of various charities. As well as a busy concert schedule, the choir participates in national and international competitions, BBC recordings, their own CD recordings, singing tours and run workshops with local schools to get young people excited and passionate about music. Take a look at their website for more information about their upcoming concerts: Reading Phoenix Choir

One location can often provide more than one look to a photograph (even if the subject is the same – okay, with and without a jacket on). This was the case when I photographed Max recently. We went to the Showcase Cinema in Winnersh and took these two shots under the flyover. And they couldn’t be more different.

Heads Together and Row team to row the Atlantic. The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge will see Heads Together and Row compete in an unsupported 3000 mile rowing race from San Sebastian in the Canary Islands to English Harbour, Antigua. To put the challenge into context: more people have climbed Everest or been into space than row the Atlantic!

The race is estimated to take between 40 and 90 days the crew will row in pairs in two hour shifts around the clock. The 24’ x 6’ boat carries all their equipment (and spares), food and a water maker turning sea water into drinking water.

It will not only be a huge personal challenge but they will be raising money for mental health charities. Dr Caroline Rook, Lecturer in Leadership at Henley Business School, will be working with them on a research study before, during and after the race, looking at individual and team resilience.

I was invited onto their boat on the River Thames. Happily I didn’t fall in, the camera and lens survived and I got some really interesting action shots. Having being on a very calm river I cannot imagine what facing 40 foot waves will be like. Good luck to the team!

I recently photographed Scott Marley from the Science Theatre in action. Science Theatre create shows and workshops mixing stage performance with demonstrations to explain the most incredible ideas in science – in the most memorable way. He presented his Astronomical show in front of Year 9 school pupils visiting the University of Reading.

Scott studied astrophysics at The University of Manchester before joining the Bradford Robotic Telescope group at Bradford University to run their outreach program. It was a really interesting, interactive and informative show which everyone really enjoyed.

I initially was disappointed when all the room lights were switched off: great for adding atmosphere and continuing the space theme but not great for capturing engaging images. I was therefore delighted to get this image – a perfect profile shot for an astrophysicist!

Find out more information about the Science Theatre, their shows, pricing and contact details here: Science Theatre

I had a lovely time in London taking photographs of members of staff and the trustees of the Centre for Ageing Better. They are a charity who work to create a society in which everyone enjoys a good later life.

“We believe that more people living longer represents a huge opportunity for society. But changes are needed so more people enjoy good health, are financially secure, are socially connected and have a purpose in later life. We bring about change for people in later life today and for future generations. Practical solutions, research about what works best and people’s own insight are all sources that we draw on to help make this change”.

What a brilliantly varied and enjoyable year it has been. I am very grateful to all my clients for inviting me into their world in order for me to digitise it forever. I am very fortunate to have had so many exciting projects, unfortunately not all shoots have been added to the video, sorry if yours didn’t make it into the final cut. It’s not easy cutting down 12 months of work into 3 minutes and 36 seconds!

All photographs and video editing was by Bennetto Photography. Music by bensound.com

The MERL Winter Warmer event was held on Saturday 2nd of December and I was there with my camera to capture everything. There was plenty for everyone to see, hear and do: including the Millers’ Ark Living Nativity scene and petting farm, a Christmas Cracker drop-in craft activity, the MERL players Traditional Christmas show, opportunities to actually handle some MERL objects, a gift wrapping station, the Shepherd’s hut was decorated by the Mewes Knitting group and Christmas music supplied by the Reading Big Band.

They say never work with children and animals – so I had both to contend with. The donkeys, goats, turkeys and pigs were very well behaved. The children… were understandably excited: I was very glad to spend a quiet evening at home afterwards.

The Henley Business School welcomed Matt Franklin to deliver the ninth talk in the series, titled ‘Creating opportunity from adversity’. Matt is Managing Director of Roc Technologies, a business process transformation specialist and multi award winner. In April 2017, the Financial Times ranked Roc Technologies 17th in 1,000 fastest growing businesses in Europe.

Matt’s talk covered his role as MD, the inspiration behind Roc Technologies’ growth and the company’s recognition through numerous awards, including winning the most innovative technology company award at Southern Tech 100 Awards in March 2017.

I photographed this event and it was a sober reminder that there are good and bad aspects in business and that failure is often the catalyst to success. Not many people are prepared to talk of the hard times in business so well done Matt!

Black and white studio photography by Bennetto Photography

I had a fabulous time photographing JP recently. He wasn’t expecting such an elaborate studio lighting setup nor the large number of shots taken but the end results were well worth it.

He really embraced the session bringing with him a change of clothes and props to help us get the range of shots we wanted. It was a thoroughly enjoyable photoshoot with a genuinely nice guy (I am showing my age now). The most difficult things to photograph are often when subjects have the same tonal ranges so getting the lighting right was key with this shot.